Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I have not long returned from my second visit to Paris & now am spending my time trying to figure my way back again. So much to love about a city that is most commonly qualified by the adjective 'gay'.

While I was there I met ladies who piss standing up at LadyFest Rennes...

& teamed up with artist/activist extraordinare Anne-Laure in Paris to do some street art myself.

Here's the fence stitch we did on the streets of Paris, 75% des pauvres ꞊♀ (or: 75% of poor are women). A woman actually came up & hugged me in the street while we were doing it. HUGGED ME. The police drove by without stopping & little children clapped. This is how people respond to art in France.

& if they weren't enough reasons to move to France, the Government has now prohibited the use of the term mademoiselle (the French word denoting an unmarried woman) in official documents. Hooray! Why any reference to marital status is needed ever is beyond me & luckily the French agree. Now the French language is going to be all the more delightful & it was already sounding pretty damn good.

I've written in the past about how the French do not have an equivalent for 'cunt' as a destructive insult (♥♥♥!). I discovered on my most recent trip (& this is what has really made me want to pack my bags & give in to my Francophile urges) that they also do not use those innane little asterix things to blank out 'offensive' words. That's right. In France publishers will either print a word or not write the bloody sentence in the first place. None of th** stupid fuckery.

I asked a local about it and he looked at me with suprise, "No! We do not use these things," he said, clearly shocked at the notion, "Why would we do this? To do this would be hypocritical!"

Casey, Just found about you via your Guardian piece and wow! is how I feel. You are so sensible. Still getting my head around the Casting Off My Womb performance piece but it's my issue as I hate my period!! Any period really. Could do without it. I'm with you re France too. Well, Paris. Paris is not France of course. London is not the UK. NY is not America. One day you will be known in all these places!! Good luck to you. Merry Christmas from the UK from another gal from downunder.